


I'll save you this time

by Icypeach



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort/Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Illness, Injury, Panic Attacks, holt siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 18:04:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10724439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icypeach/pseuds/Icypeach
Summary: Matt wakes up on another alien ship.





	I'll save you this time

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this 30 years ago (before season 2 came out) and never really edited it or anything but I thought i might as well post it.

Matt fell to his knees in a heap, with absolutely no grace at all. His entire body went numb at once, a shiver ran up his back and he was falling face first onto a hard metal ground. The impact sent a jolt of pain through his lower chest, all the way up his neck and temples. If he were able to he would of probably yelled out, but nothing came out of his mouth when he opened it except a string of drool. 

Awesome. 

Matt coughed, turning his head sideways and groaning and trying to get some sense of his surroundings.

Since when was breathing so difficult. The air didn't want to fill his lungs and he found himself gasping pathetically as he shifted his weight, attemping to force his weak body off the freezing cold floor. 

Where was he this time, a different cell, a medical bay, another work camp? He couldn't remember any of those places being this damn bright. The lights were blindingly florescent and... white. Matt stopped trying to move for a second, he had managed to roll onto his back, so he could look up at the ceiling. 

It was a very tall ceiling, probably for some tall ass aliens, but that wasn't what struck him as odd... there were no purple lights, anywhere. 

Matt had gotten used to the color purple. It had felt like decades since he'd been surrounded completely by any other color. The galran's loved the color, Matt hated it. 

Purple was a color of pain, a color of loss, the last color he'd seen shiro bathed in before he was ripped away from him. The last color he'd seen, illuminated on his fathers face as they took Matt away from the work camp, it was the color in every operating room he'd been in. the color of the walls of his cells, the color of the arena... the color of his captors themselves. 

The room he was in now was blue, blue and green and gray. The sight of them made his stomach swell with something he hadn't felt in months,

hope.

Maybe he wasn't on a galran ship after all. Matt struggled to sit up, his quizzical mind working faster than his body. He swallowed a mouthful of air, hit his balled fist on the floor and forced himself to his knees, even though so many parts of his body were screaming with fatigue, hunger, and various aches. 

Now that he was up, his ribs felt like fire and that fire spread quickly throughout his body. 

They must be broken. 

Matt looked around the room, at all the strange patterns of the walls, and the big looming, but empty pods, that stared at him in a ring, the one he now realized he'd just dropped out of was the only one open. All the others were closed and free of bodies...

Matt's face fell, feeling instantly colder as a deep poud of something angry spread through him.

One of the pods was occupied, by a tall muscular man.

Matt recognized him instantly, despite the changes in his appeareance. 

“Shiro.” he croaked out, he sounded like his throat had been microwaved, more gaspy breaths coming out that actual words. 

Shiro wore a pale gray body suit, with weird alien looking designs on it, Matt had to look away for a moment, Shiro's body looked so wrong suspended like that.

And then matt realized he was wearing the same thing. He looked at his arms, his body shaking terribly. It was just like when they were forced into those black and purple prison uniforms. Everything registered in Matt's head at once, waves of nausea accompanying it. 

Shiro and he were prisoners again. Matt's legs were Jelly as he managed to get to his feet, his back rigid to keep the pain off his chest as he stumbled towards Shiro. He pressed his hand firmly against the blue glass of the pod, tears welling in his eyes as he looked at Shiro who looked so much like himself but so wrong. 

A streak of his hair was white, similar to matt's, a deep scar covered the expanse of his face, and he looked like he'd gained a lot of muscle, probably from fighting to the death in that horrible arena. 

Matt raised his fist and hit on the glass meekly. “S-shiro..” he choked, pounding the glass a little harder, and then harder and harder, “Shiro! SHIRO!” he was full out panicking now, as he banged on the pod, the hand that was supporting his ribs forgotten and used as well.

He did this until his fists ached, and blood ran down the sides of his hands, until he was sobbing so hard that he couldn't breath, and gasped for air instead, until the his legs could no longer support his body. Matt sank to the floor, head down, fists never leaving the surface of the glass. He needed to think. He hit his forehead against the glass in a desperate attempt to form thought.

Think. Think. Think.

But he couldn't something wouldn't let him, his mind was racing so much faster than he could process, his body was rejecting everything he did, every move he made.

Old memories flooded back, from the galra ship, from earth, from his family, from his time at the garrison, and the shy smiles he'd shared with Shiro on the mission. To his sister and mother and father and even his dog's face. 

And to the terrible overwhelming reality that Shiro was here, he was incased in glass, suspended and they were both doomed to a life of slavery and imprisonment but, matt thought selfishly, he was here. Right in front of him. In some gross twists of fate they were together again.

Reality was cruel.

Maybe there was a button.. a switch, something easy, maybe this would just be easy he needed to think. 

Think. Think. Think. 

Before Matt could think, he heard voices, tiny voices at the end of a long hallway, but definitely getting closer. 

“Fuck.” he muttered. He would have to hide, Matt took one last look at Shiro. “I promise I'll be back.” he sputtered, “I-it's my turn to save you, hang on shiro.”

* * * 

Galra tech was made from a type of metal he'd never even heard of, let alone seen, and was surprisingly not too heavy. Maybe it was the fatiuge, but as he half ran half stumbled down the opposite hallway that he'd heard the voices in, lifting it was hard. 

He almost fell over several times, from miscalculating just how much strength to use in moving it. He was sweating buckets, his hair kept getting in his mouth and why was this ship so HOT. Aliens with high tech suspending pods can't get a damn air conditioner?

Matt's hair was plastered to his face with sweat, his body ached terribly and he felt like he hadn't eaten anything in days but he found his own thought funny and actually managed a soft laugh. I must really be going crazy, he thought as he reached the end of the hall.

Then the room tilted sideways.

Matt came to on the floor, his cheek pressed into cold unfamiliar ground for the second time, he felt like the room was spinning, the walls were twisting and turning sideways, soon he'd have to hang on so he couldn't go falling into the ceiling. 

The pain in his ribs was back too, the ache had dulled, since when he was running, it made taking deep breaths seem impossible, like every time he took more air that a little gasp, something would squeeze around his chest constricting any more air from getting in.

thoughts of shiro didn't go anywhere, they stayed front and center in his head, his mind trying to process what the fuck he just saw. Nausea washed over him when he realized that... he had no idea whether shiro was even alive in that pod. “dammit.” matt breathed into the flooring, “Fuck.” the sweat and tears hadn't stopped since he'd woken up, he couldn't stop them, force them away, his body didn't belong to him like this.

Once he managed to recollect himself, force any thoughts about a possibly dead Shiro to the back of his mind, and focus on hiding, or finding food or something, he got back up. Getting to his feet got harder and harder every time he had to do it and this was no exception. His legs wobbled under his weight, his stomach tightened and swirled and lurched with every little movement, his ribs protested and practically begged him to lay back down. And sweat plastered his over grown hair to his face and neck. He had nothing to help tie it back. 

Matt used the wall for support. He'd completely exhausted himself, running wasn't happening anymore.

Matt forced his feet forward, following the length of the wall down the long white hallway. He didn't even notice when the wall ended, pitching sideways, with nothing to catch him, he tried bracing himself for the impact of hitting the floor yet again.

But he didn't, instead two firm arms wrapped around his shoulders, and pulled him upright.

Matt had been caught, but he was too tired to fight anymore. He breathed heavily, apologizing to shiro in his head, preparing himself for a hit to the back of his head to knock him out, or an injection or some kind or even a shot to some part of his body.

But that didn't happen either.

“whoa, whoa whoa. ”Matt blinked against the persons chest, slowly bringing his head up to look at whoever was holding him.

A human. Matt hadn't seen another human in almost a year. And this was a youthful handsome human, with flawless skin, a tall form and cropped brown hair that might look unbecoming on someone who wasn't so handsome. 

The thing that got matt the most though, was the look of concern on the guys face. Like eyebrows twisted upwards, mouth slightly open, wide eyed concern. 

Matt couldn't remember the last time he'd seen an expression like that, let alone someone wearing that expression for him. Matt must have been making some kind of face because the features on the guy's face softened into a smile. “Hi, you must be confused but I promise it's okay, we rescued you, you're safe now.” The information made his head spin, safe? What an odd concept to be safe again. He blinked up at the guy who was still supporting him. 

Matt's voice sounded like the voice of someone who'd been screaming, rough and throaty and wobbly, it was completely accurate and expected. “Who?” 

He straightened himself, “Oh sorry where are my manners, The name's Lance! I'm a paladin of voltron and i'm here to save the universe! Man Pidge, is worried sick about you dude, so why don't we bring you back to the pods and you can-”

“Pidge?”

“Oh that's right,” He hit the side of his head comically, “I guess I should call her Katie so you know what I'm talking about.” 

“Katie?” 

Lance smiled widely, “yeah dude, your sister has been worried sick about you.”

“My sister.”

“so let's go back, and you can see her yourself. It's alright not to trust me man, I wouldn't trust me either after the shit you've probably been through.” he was talking like he was in a hurry to get back, an odd satisfaction edging the corners of his words. 

Lance wrapped his arm around Matt's shoulders in a way that he'd be carrying most of Matt's weight and the two of them headed slowly back towards the pod room.

Matt couldn't help but think this was some kind of trap, maybe a witch had formed some giant illusion around him, but those were usually so much odder than this, obscure and filled with awful images of awful things. This must be a new tactic.

Matt was too tired to really do anything though, he let himself be led by 'Lance' all the way to the chambers.

Katie slammed into Matt so hard she jostled his ribs, and it hurt like hell but he couldn't give a shit. He hugged her back, with as much of his strength as he could, which wasn't much, but enough. 

They stayed like that for a long time, just hugging each other on the floor is a big tangle of limbs and red hair. 

Matt had never been more relieved in his life. 

But he had questions. 

A pair of the most humanoid aliens he'd ever seen, answered them all. They brought him to a room that looked like a lounge and sat him down on a chair, wrapped a blanket around him and gave him something sweet to drink that they said would help with his dizziness, Katie sat next to him, every now and again she'd catch him staring at him like he was a ghost. A smile wide across her face, eyes were red and puffy from crying, his own were no better.

Apparently Shiro was in a healing pod, as he had been but his body couldn't stand to be in there as long as shiro so it dropped him out prematurely. 

His ribs were broken, but now they were just bruised, he had had a concussion and several other injuries they didn't go too in detail with.

Shiro fell out of the pod with much more grace than Matt did. 

He stumbled a few feet, hunched over, hands on his knees then straightened. He looked pale and tired but he was able to stand on his own. that didn't stop 'Hunk' From throwing his arm under one of shiro's to support him. 

Shiro nods to him then looks up at Matt blankly for just a second before his eyes light up with recongintion. Matt all but tackles him.


End file.
